Help a Refugee Mother Feed Her Children

When Zawidi and her family of 8 members entered Nakivale, life was not easy. She lived on food rations that were distributed by the World Food Programme, which later were reduced that her family could not get enough food for feeding.

“We only ate once a day and would eat beans and posho every day. We had not money to buy other goods nor did we know we could grow our own food. I was not a farmer in DRC, so I had no interest in farming” Zawidi recalls.

With generous donations through GlobalGiving, YICE scaled the Regenerative farming project to build the capacity of 100 refugee and host households to become food secure, increase their incomes and adapt to climate change effects.
Zawidi is one of the beneficiaries of this project that has experienced positive changes in her life caused by the project.

“YICE’s approach to train us how to grow our own food is the best. My family can now have nutritious food, and I have been able to sell and earn an extra once. In December, I sold and earned 70,000 UGX ($20) – and bought extra 5 chicken to add to the 2 YICE gave me. I now have 7 chicken and expect to start eating eggs in February!” Zawidi.

Key to our intervention is mindset change. We educate our project participants about the importance of regenerative farming, about how they can use the small pieces of land provided to them by the government to grow their food, feed their family and earn an extra income. We create awareness about climate change and prepare participants to be climate resilience. We also follow-up our participants to see how their lives improve through regenerative diaries.

• Zawidi story (PDF)